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- Hacker News
- Anyone tried ivermectin?by shinobi-apps
- Pfizer recently released that they’re planning to send in their new Lyme vaccine to regulatory authorities after their phase 3 study: https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...by mfi
- Fancy! One can buy a pack of 3 for 30€ in Germany, which detect multiple types of borrelia bacteria ...by jaeckel
- My pet theory is that lyme disease coevolved to make mamals "addicted" to ticks. Every reinfection and the resulting fever-body pyrolysis, resets the infections malaise sideffects for a while. Thus, if you where outside all the time, you would be conditioned to expose yourselfs to ticks all the time, to feel "healthy" again. If those little bastards secreted fentanyl it would have a similar outcome.by warumdarum
- For me, vigorous exercise, riding my bike, running, jumping rope, has always made me feel better mentally and physically whether it was a pathogen funk or just life and feeling down or symptomatic as some describe below. I always check my kids and myself after hikes, especially in tall grass or shrubs. I've found ticks here and there over the years. The cathartic effect of high-intensity exercise where you push yourself to what you think is your limit is amazing for your physical and mental well being. The old Sufi saying, "Movement is life; stillness is death" is my mantra. I have friends who avoid hiking for fear of ticks and Lyme disease. It's a shame, since being outdoors in the sun, smelling the woods, and taking in the views while walking are priceless. Movement over pharmaceuticals.by eggy
- Start thinking about α-gal syndrome, even if you're in The North. I just pulled an adult Lone Star tick off my back last night. I had no idea that they had made it to Northern Illinois. Now I get to spend the summer waiting to see if a burger is going to kill me.by miiiiiike
- While this at-home test kit is neat, there already are solutions to this problem which are likely more beneficial to the overall awareness of tick-borne illness. In the US, one can send a tick (alive, dead, in shreds) to Penn State’s tick research lab via usps and get results in just a few days. Customers can select what results they’re looking for, as ticks don’t solely carry one “lyme disease” marker.
I would feel better sending a tick that i pulled off of myself or my pets to a dedicated research lab rather than buy some one-off test kits which don’t contribute to the overall incidence rate of tick-borne illness.
I even sent a tick that I found in a potted plant from home depot (never attached to me) which turned out to carry rocky mountain spotted fever. I only sent that random tick in just to see if it carried anything, and since seeing the report from Penn State Ive wondered if i had contracted RMSF what my medical journey would have looked like, since i live on the opposite side of the continent from those ticks and i had found it mid-December. That would have required a Gregory House differential diagnosis where I live.
by dilfred - "LymeAlert seeks to help people avoid the cost and the wait of going to the emergency room after being bitten by a tick"
I might be mistaken, but I don't think you should go to the emergency room with a tick bite..? Do people really do that?
by poszlem - Do you need to? Probably not.
However it is somewhat area specific and Massachusetts is a hotbed when it comes to lyme disease carrying ticks. Lyme really should be treated right away.
I think urgent care wouldn't really be out of the question for a tick bite there. Telehealth is also something that likely could work here. It should be a 5 minute "Hey, got a tick bite, here's the picture of the tick, can I get a prescription for some antibiotics".
by cogman10 - I like that it involves grinding up the tick. Just deserts.
- I don't mind there being some selection pressure against biting humans.by AnimalMuppet
- I always keep doxycyline around take a couple whenever I find a deer tick on me.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545493/table/rc1121.ap...
by billfor - And it's relatively easy to get a prescription for since it's a PEP drug for high -er risk sexual activities.by holdenk
- You're the smart one.. Unfortunately I didn't find the tick on time and have been sick with persistent Lyme for over 10 years. Hoping for some kind of solution soon.by alfon
- https://lymealert.com/how-it-works/
I’m not optimistic this will be all that helpful. Just because the tick you found is negative, that tells you nothing about those you did not find. Just because a tick is positive, that does not mean that it has infected whoever it was attached to.
My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged. None of the ticks shown were engorged.
by mgerdts - As everyone is different, there is no "best" method to remove one however there's lots of wrong ways. The only thing everyone agrees with is sooner is always better. I'm surprised "laser tick remover" isn't a thing yet.by 1970-01-01
- there have been times in my life where this could have saved me a doctors visit, and that's good enough for me
- This is one of the things that is oft repeated by my vector disease colleagues -- your infection may not be caused by the tick you found, but by the tick you didn't.by Fomite
- I think it's super helpful. Sure it doesn't help with ticks, you don't find, but in my experience it starts to itch eventually even with the tick attached. If it's negative good, if it's positive go see a doctor.by _ink_
- According to the dutch public health institute, the longer the tick is in the body, the bigger the chance of transmission. Early removal also does not prevent lyme, it just reduces the chances.
Next to that, in The Netherlands we have a site to report tick bites and if they had lyme disease or not. It’s good to know if you should be extra vigilant after a bite from a certain area. I think the self-test could be very useful for such sites.
by JimBlackwood - This is very helpful for determining if prophylactic treatment is necessary after discovering a tick.
If someone doesn’t notice a tick then they aren’t going to be considering prophylactic treatment anyway. It’s for the cases where ticks are discovered.
by Aurornis - > My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged. None of the ticks shown were engorged.
I’ve hear stats as long as 24 hours and as short as 30 seconds. One nurse told me that removing ticks by grasping and pulling means they transmit immediately, because you squeeze their contents through their mouths. I no longer believe any of the stats; seems like it could be at any time.
by kaikai - Unfortunately there are a number of tick-borne illnesses. Eg, Powassan virus is a viral infection that attacks the central nervous system (leading to encephalitis). It can be transmitted within hours or even just 15 minutes of tick attachment.
Another is Alpha Gal. It is a molecule carried in tick saliva that can cause serious allergies to red meat and even dairy. Because the molecule is in the saliva, it can be delivered immediately.
- I didn’t discover that ticks were a problem until I was in my mid 20s, and had been rolling around in deer-filled brush for years. Either I got very lucky, or have a chronic tick-borne disease.
I’ve been battling unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline throughout my 30s. I’ve had every blood test under the sun, numerous sleep studies and tried every vitamin. I’ve had no answers and no change.
Sometimes, I've believed that it impacts my performance at work. Sometimes I feel like I should be retiring, but I’m not even 40 yet. Sometimes, it's not so bad.
I saw a video on controlled hypothermia the other day, which seems like snake oil. I guess that’s next on my list to try. I feel desperate, but I’m just having to get used to the feeling of desperation, because there appears to be no answer or solution.
by beaker52 - When did you last (1) eat a proper salad with no sugary dressing (2) get up early to exercise (3) achieve a suntan (4) spend a week without caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol? (5) catch a sunrise? (6) wake up at an acceptable hour without an alarm? (7) eat a high fiber meal like a vegetable curry?
Other: Dark, cold, quiet bedroom. Sleep study. Vicious dietary improvement. If all else fails: move and change jobs. If that doesn't fix it, try one of those drug induced purges with ibogaine.
- You owe it to yourself to learn about Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). It can be caused by lyme but is more often due to exposure to water damaged buildings.
It is treatable and the science is backed by peer-reviewed academic papers. https://www.survivingmold.com/legal-resources/publications/p...
Reasonably priced lab testing can be obtained without jumping through insurance hoops: https://www.moldco.com/
I have personally suffered from CIRS-wdb (water damaged building) for decades. By 2012 (age 44) I was so chronically sick with severe neurological, endocrine and digestive symptoms that I could not work and barely slept 3 hours a night for months. Brain fog, "ice pick" pains in the gut, muscular weakness and balance problems were among the many symptoms. It was so bad that I was preparing for the end within a year and was spending my limited time with my wife and young children. Years of medical tests and consults (Cleveland Clinic) found nothing.
Fortunately, lots of googling found medical articles by Dr Ritchie Shoemaker listing many of the same multi-system symptoms. From the late 1990s he identified cohorts of patients with such symptoms and developed effective treatments. I drove out to Maryland and was treated by him from 2012-2013 following the Shoemaker protocol. We spent a substantial amount remediating the water damage in our home. My health improved incrementally to the point where I now work productively and actively mountain bike daily at age 59. I am about 91% recovered and have no doubt that I would have died without treatment. I take maintanence doses of Welchol and Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) and avoid water damaged buildings.
I have no financial interest in Moldco or Dr Shoemaker but feel compelled to share my experience with those who seem to be suffering similarly.
I almost did not write this post. Nearly every afflicted person I have shared CIRS info with has ignored it and continued their health decline. I hope that you or someone reading this will take the steps and improve their health.
by kathysgeek - I've been through similar, don't give up trying to find a solution. I've recently found what mine is, and am doing much better now. Everyone is different, be careful with advice on the internet, but at the least it gives you ideas for further investigation. For me it was elevated homocysteine, with a genetic origin. I could get an analysis by uploading my genome to Genetic Genie, but ultimately the homocysteine test was the proof.by jdswain
- My friend was diagnosed with lyme disease in his mid-20s after years of symptoms similar to your own (brain fog, extreme fatigue, etc.). The hard thing is that even lyme disease itself is a constellation of illnesses, he had to work with mulitple specialists for years to confirm what the issue was and get the proper treatment.
In his case, he is mostly back to normal, albeit gluten intolerant, which will cause his symptoms to redevelop, namely spinal inflammation.
Its hard not to engender helplessness when hearing or dealing with types of issues, but I wish you perserverance in your search for answers, and grace when dealing with your problems.
- That's rough. Same symptoms of low testosterone, which a blood test can measure. This can be caused (even in younger men) through daily exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like BPA and phthalates, heavy metals, and pesticides. Poor lifestyle exposures such as chronic stress, lack of sleep, and high ambient air pollution also significantly suppress hormone production.
- fwiw; I had unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline as a post-COVID induced histamine intolerance with a few bonus attributes. High amounts of histamine would accumulate in my mast cells then get released in 3-5am, undermining sleep and also inhibiting serotonin.
It took me about four years to fully understand my condition. Hope you figure out what is bothering you. The body is incredibly complex.
by perbu